Mornington is a seaside suburb of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

located on the

Mornington Peninsula The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located in the south of Greater Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to ...

south-east of Melbourne's

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

. It is the most populous locality in the Shire of Mornington Peninsula

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

. Mornington had a population of 25,759 at the 2021 census. Mornington is a tourist destination renowned for its bay beaches and wineries, with a town centre that runs into the foreshore area and local beach.

History

Originally home to the Indigenous Boonwurrung people, the first European settlers arrived in the area in the 1840s for fishing, logging and agriculture. A 46-metre long pier was opened in 1858 and became the social and economic gateway to the Mornington Peninsula, connecting the surrounding areas with

. Originally known as Schnapper (or Snapper) Point, the town was renamed Mornington in 1864 after the second Earl of Mornington. The Courthouse was built in 1861 and the Post Office in 1863. The Grand Hotel was originally opened in 1892 at 126 Main Street as an alcohol-free Grand Coffee Palace designed by notable Melbourne architect William Pitt. Mornington became a popular tourist destination, with day trippers travelling from Melbourne on

steamers Steamer may refer to: Transportation * Steamboat, smaller, insular boat on lakes and rivers * Steamship, ocean-faring ship * Screw steamer, steamboat or ship that uses "screws" (propellers) * Steam yacht, luxury or commercial yacht * Paddle st ...

from the 1860's. The Mornington Railway line opened in 1889, connecting the township directly to Melbourne until it was closed in 1981. Mornington yacht club from Mills

Population

In the 2021 Census, there were 25,759 people in Mornington. 77% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 9.3%, New Zealand 1.4%, Scotland 1.3%, Ireland 0.8% and Italy 0.7%. 94% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Italian 0.7%, Greek 0.6% and Spanish 0.4%. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 45%, Christian 45%, Hinduism 0.3% and Islam 0.2%. 41% of dwellings were owned outright, 32% were owned with a mortgage, and 21% were rented. Unemployment in 2021 was 3.8%. The top three industries of employment were Health Care and Social Assistance (16%), Construction (14%) and Retail Trade (10%).

Parks

The town centre runs into the foreshore area and local beach, which features a

yacht club A yacht club is a boat club specifically related to yachting. Description Yacht clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations. Yacht or sailing clubs have either a mar ...

, restaurant and park with playground facilities.

Culture

Mornington is an attractive destination for shopping and features some excellent restaurants and cafes. The north of Mornington is also home to several horse breeders and

stables A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

. It has a library and numerous parks, gardens and historical buildings, many of which are open to the public. It holds several annual festivals, and holds a market day in the main street every Wednesday, which attracts hundreds of people. The Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, opened in 1971, is the major art gallery for the region and hosts a number of major exhibitions, including the Archibald Prize in 2013. Surrounding the gallery are several parks and the Mornington Botanical Rose Gardens.

Education

Within Mornington are several schools including Mornington Primary School, Mornington Secondary College, Mornington Park Primary School, St. Macartan's Parish Primary School and Benton Junior College.

Transport

Mornington is served by three major roadways, Peninsula Link (Mornington Peninsula Freeway), Nepean Highway and Moorooduc Highway. All three are dual-carriageway arterial roads with varying speed limits of 80–100 km/h. The Melbourne bus routes 781, 784, 785, and 788 services the area. The Mornington railway line closed in 1981 and reopened in 1991 as the heritage Mornington Railway with the aims of restoring the line in future.

Sport

Mornington has an Australian Rules football team, the Mornington Bulldogs, competing in the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League. Mornington has a horse racing club, the Mornington Racing Club, which schedules around twenty race meetings a year including the Mornington Cup meeting in March. The Mornington Racecourse also hosts the Peninsula Cup in November and monthly markets. Mornington also has an active Yacht club, the Mornington Yacht Club, located at Schnapper Point. Golfers play at the course of the Mornington Country Golf Club on Tallis Drive. Mornington has a

Field Hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

club competing in the Hockey Victoria Association known as the Mornington Peninsula Falcons.Mornington Peninsula Falcons
Mornington Peninsula Hockey Club. Retrieved 20 January 2014. Terri Sawyer, the 18-year-old female driver who won the first ever AUSCAR race at the Calder Park Thunderdome in Melbourne in February 1988, is a resident of Mornington.

Climate

Mornington has an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

( Cfb) with warm and occasionally hot summers and mild winters where temperatures below freezing are very rare occasions.

Notable residents

Finola Moorhead Finola Moorhead (born 1947) is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and reviewer. Her topics include women and writing, switching between reality and fiction, with themes of subversion and survival. Moorhead participates in the ...

* Brodie Harper * Terry Denton

Gallery

File:Mornington Mechanics Institute.JPG, Mornington Mechanics Institute File:Mornington Grand Hotel.JPG, Mornington Grand Hotel File:Mornington ca 1940.jpg, Historic aerial photo of Mornington 1940 looking west File:Mornington Roman Catholic Church b.jpg, Catholic Church at Mornington

References

{{Authority control Suburbs of Melbourne Suburbs of the Shire of Mornington Peninsula Populated places established in 1850 1850 establishments in Australia